As Night Descends
by CrimsonStarbird
Summary: Mitsuhide's thoughts after killing Nobunaga. Nobunaga/Mitsuhide. Oneshot.


_This is my first upload, so bear with me! _

_This was originally written for my GCSE English Coursework, hence the small number of words. I love writing about Mitsuhide and Nobunaga, though, so I will probably do more fics with them later!_

_Thanks for taking time to read this! It is my first fic, so let me know how to improve!_

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**As Night Descends**

How can I describe how I felt for my lord?

I loved him.

I loved him like no one else did. I would have gone anywhere, done anything for him. I would even have followed him into Hell if he'd have asked me to.

And into Hell we went, in the end, and our hands were constantly at our belts and our gentle words hid daggers. We went there willingly, arm in arm, laughing and smiling, even though we both knew only one of us would ever return.

And what did we find there?

Blood.

The blood that flows freely over my hand, that bathes my arm in beautiful crimson; the blood that splashes on the ground as it drips like tears from glass eyes wide with shock.

My shaking hand could close those staring eyes, but it could never help me forget them. How long would it be until my nights were free from fire and blood and death?

The wind rips the terrified moan from my throat. Through the doors of the ancient temple it howls, the hounding breath of the gods, seeking the one foolish enough to defile this sacred place. It carries the taste of the temple's sakura trees to my lips: sweet, sickly, decaying – for how many months had it been now since the grounds were first saturated with blood?

The trees were drunk, drunk on human blood, like the survivors. Like I had been. Like I had been when I killed him.

Nobunaga. My lord. My love. My life.

How far we must have fallen in three short years to make our climb together so insignificant. All it took was one day – one final, cataclysmic day – to see the end of everything we had so lovingly built. He betrayed me at Yakami Castle, and because of that, my family was butchered.

So I killed him.

I thought that would make everything all right.

Somehow, some part of me thought that would bring him back. Nobunaga. My Nobunaga. The greatest of all the daimyo, with all of Japan within his reach. The one who had inspired me, encouraged me, been my father and my brother and my friend.

It hadn't mattered to me, when he first took me in, that he was already being labeled the "Demon King" by his enemies. It hadn't mattered how he was hated, or feared. What mattered was that I was his favourite. I wanted to impress him so badly. I wanted him to notice me.

I rose quickly through the ranks of his army. It wasn't long before I was his second in command; his most trusted retainer. He had faith in me, and that meant that together we could do anything. All who stood against us were crushed: the Azai, the Asakura, the Takeda, even the great Tokugawa clan bowed before us. We were on top of the world, and the two of us, together, could do anything.

How foolish I was. How naïve.

How could I have thought that I was anything more then a tool to Nobunaga?

He was the Demon King, the great conqueror of Japan, and who was I? I was nobody. My love and my devotion meant nothing to him.

Somewhere in my heart, perhaps, I had hoped that for me it would be different. Even as I watched him use and manipulate others, I never believed for a second that he would do the same to me. After all, I was his partner. I was the one he trusted. Wasn't I?

In the end, he didn't use me. He hadn't needed to use me. I gave everything I had to him willingly.

Because I loved him. I will always love him.

The fires of my rage have long since burnt out.

I fall to my knees amongst the ash, bloody katana slipping from my hand. Honnō-ji has become a place of death. Nobody will come to pray here any more. Maybe then the gods will abandon them, as they abandoned me long ago. After all, the gods care only for one man: Nobunaga. Not for me, or for thousands of the innocents who had died fighting him.

And how many had died! Looking back, it is amazing how insignificant every death was when I was stood by Nobunaga. Only now can I see clearly. Only now can I truly see what suffering and pain my Demon King has caused to the people.

Does that justify my betrayal?

Can any amount of evil make killing the one you love all right?

The battle was won from the moment my army changed its course and returned to Honnō-ji. One command; that was all it took. One command from a leader to his men. One command to change the path of history. One command to kill a man and destroy another.

_Teki wa Honnō-ji ni ari!_

The enemy lies at Honnō-ji!

When I close my eyes, I can see his face clearer then I can through my tears. His eyes no longer stare in disbelief. They glitter with dark, mocking laughter, and the haunting, terrible sound of it fills my head. My scream is scattered by the wind like the ashes of the burnt temple, but it does nothing to drown out the laughter. I am crying, bitterly now - for my loss, for my love – yet the tears are of pain, not of regret.

I tried so hard to believe it. I have told myself again and again that it is true. That Nobunaga loved me. That he trusted me. That we would be side by side forever.

I know it's not too late for that to be true.

It's so easy. It's so easy, when you've already given up on everything. When you've nothing left to live for. I feel nothing, just like when I killed him.

What would someone think if they saw us now? One sword, two bodies, all three locked in an eternal embrace. Would they look upon the scene and find love?

Let them believe what they see. Let the world look upon my story as one of hatred and jealousy.

My fingers give one final twitch, curling around Nobunaga's cold hand.

Let them know, that in this godforsaken world, there is no honour. There is no love.

There is only pain.


End file.
